Slip-proof sleeve for a baseball bat handle



May 16, 1961 L. J. JONES SLIP-PROOF SLEEVE FOR A BASEBALL BAT HANDLE Filed Feb. 5, 1959 INVENTOR. LLOYD J. JoNES A'r'raRNEY United States Patent 6 2,984,486 sLiP-iRooF SLEEVE FOR A BASEBALL BAT HANDLE I Lloyd J. Jones, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. (11400 E. Nine Mile Drive, Warren, Mich.)

Filed Feb. 5, 1959, Ser. No. 791,439

1 Claim. (Cl. 273-72) This invention relates to a slip proof sleeve for handles and more particularly for baseball bat handles.

Heretofore various difliculties have been encountered namely slipping or undue vibration; and various makeshift methods have been employed for overcoming the same.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a flexible and resilient slip-proof sleeve which may be immovably secured to a handle of a baseball bat.

It is the further object to provide a slip-proof selfsecuring sleeve for a baseball bat for permitting a stronger grip thereon and for rendering the use of the bat more comfortable and in substantially overcoming the painful vibrations often produced due to poor gripping and poor impact.

Bats also have been known to fracture and split in use with portions of the bat piercing the hands of the user. It is a further object to provide safety sleeve for the bat handle for protecting the users hands against such injury.

It is still another object to provide adhesive means upon the interior of the protective sleeve rendering the same self-securing.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claim in conjunction with the appended drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bat with the present slip-proof sleeve upon the handle thereof.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of said sleeve on an enlarged scale showing the opposite ends thereof tapered outwardly.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view on an enlarged scale of the sleeve shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary but similar view of a slightly difierent form of sleeve.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of another form of sleeve.

Fig. 7 is a similar view of still another form of sleeve.

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of a hockey stick with the present sleeve mounted upon the handle thereof.

It will be understood that the above drawing illustrates merely a preferred embodiment of the invention and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claim hereafter set forth.

Referring to the drawing in Fig. 1 there is shown a conventional baseball bat 11 with slightly tapered handle 12 and immovably mounted thereon the present slipproof sleeve 13. Said sleeve is shown in side elevation on an enlarged scale in Fig. 4 and includes the open ended cylindrical body or tube 14 of any suitable material such as rubber, plastic, composition or the like, cloth or fabric.

Tube 14 may be plain. However, in the preferred embodiment it is shown with a series of transverse apertures 15 therethrough throughout a substantial portion of its area, designed to increase the grip for the user.

Fig. 5 shows a slightly diflerent form of slip-proof sleeve 16 including the open ended cylindrical tube 17 i,9 84,436 Patented May 16, 1.961

2 which has formed upon its exterior a series of longitudinally spaced ribs or corrugations 18. These corrugations are designed to increase the grip for the benefit of the user.

The sleeves 13 and 16 in diameter are slightly undersized with respect to the general diameter of handle 12 and are preferably of a yielding and resilient character so as to be self-securing as shown. This would require a slight amount of stretching in the assembly of the sleeve to the position shown in Fig. 1. However, the sleeve would be self-securing once assembled due to the inherent resiliency of the material employed, such as rubber or plastic, for example.

The sleeve may be cylindrical as in Fig. 4 with open ends or may be outwardly tapered slightly at its opposite ends to conform with the generally tapered shape of the average baseball bat handle, such as is shown in an enlarged section in Fig. 2.

Sleeve 19 of Fig. 2 consists of a cylindrical tube 20 of a suitable material, such as rubber, for example, whose opposite open ends 21-22 are flared outwardly. A series of transverse apertures 23 are formed through the wall of tube body 20 throughout a substantial portion of its area; also shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

Tube 20 has secured to its interior surface a cylindrical layer of adhesive material 24 which may be a tacky non-drying pressure sensitive type. One example of such an adhesive is a mixture of synthetic resin commonly known as Staybelite ester 10 with a soft uncured synthetic or natural rubber.

Sleeve 20 in addition to its normal resiliency is further fixedly retained on the bat handle by the adhesive layer 24 which is co-extensive with its interior surface.

A slightly diiferent form of sleeve is shown in Fig. 6 which includes the cylindrical body 25 open at its opposite ends at 26, of a suitable flexible and resilient ma-- terial, and which is longitudinally slit at 27 to provide a pair of free opposed longitudinal edges. The outer surface of the body is knurled at 34.

The free edges of tube 25 may be outwardly flexed for assembly over the bat handle of Fig. 1.

A cylindrical layer of suitable adhesive 28 is arranged upon the interior of tube 2.5 for immovably securing the slip-proof sleeve upon the bat handle.

A very similar construction is shown in Fig. 7 wherein there is provided a similar flexible and resilient sleeve 29 of similar material, also slit at 31 with an interior adhesive layer 30. Said sleeve is provided with a slide fastener 32 for fixedly securing the edges of the tube together and for assisting in the assembly of the sleeve upon the baseball bat handle.

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of a conventional hockey stick whose handle 33 has fixedly positioned over its upper end the present slip proof sleeve 13 above described in connection with Figs. 1 and 4. It is contemplated that any of the other variations of sleeve construction may be employed.

The present slip-proof sleeve has the characteristic of flexibility and is anti-slipping in view of the consistency of the material, as well as the porous character thereof as at 15 and 23, Figs. 4 and 2, or the illustrative ribbing 18 of Fig. 5.

Making the sleeve of rubber or equivalent material such as polyethylene or other plastic material or of certain types of cloth or fabric will also produce the antislip safety characteristic.

An additional advantage is that not only does the present sleeve provide a tighter grip for the user for the normal use of the bat, but also said sleeve prevents accidental loss of grip of the bat which may be dangerous.

The present sleeve has the characteristic of substangravity of the bat.

The present sleeve is-fur therrnore self-securing due to either the inherent resiliency of the material and/or the layer of adhesive on its interior, if used. v

- Having descr'ibed my invention, reference should now be had to the follovw'ng claim.

I claim:

In combination with the handle of a baseball bat, a slip-proof sleeve consisting of an elongated tube of flexible and resilient material mounted upon said handle, and of such length as to receive both hands of the user, said tube being undersized withrespect to the handle diameter, there being a series of transverse apertures formed through the wall of said tube substantially throughout its area, and a cylindrical layer of adhesive material secured upon the interior surface of said tube, opposite ends of said tube being tapered outwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 300,360 Gray June 17, 1884 979,266 ."Dean Dec. '20, 1910 4,435,088 Smith Nov. 7, 1922 1,604,696 Jordy Oct. 26, 1926 1,617,972 Wallace Feb. 15, 1927 1,687,736 Root Oct. 16, 1928 2,091,458 Sleight Aug. 31, 1937 2,659,605 Tourneau Nov. 17, 1953 15 2,780,464 Ashley Feb. 5, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 239,706 Great Britain Sept. 17, 1925 

